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Inkthinker — Gotrek WIP colors

Published: 2007-09-05 18:34:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 15320; Favourites: 173; Downloads: 5127
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Description Work-in-progress colours for the Gotrek & Felix sketch you can find in my Scraps (if you're set to watch my page and you didn't mark the Scraps, you might be missing out).

Still working out digital painting and color theory in general, but I'm feeling a little more comfortable every time. It's kinda exciting to be on the cusp of some new techniques, every time I work I come up with another little "eureka!" moment.

For instance, in this one I was a little more bold than I have been with the strokes of the shadow color or the highlights. I also did some rimlight glow action on the hands which I don't usually think to do. So maybe I'm learning something after all.

Photoshop, Intuos 9x12, about 3 hours total time so far.

Gotrek Gurnisson is a main character of the Gotrek & Felix series of novels by William King (and lately Nathan Long). Published by The Black Library and set in the gothic fantasy world of Warhammer, they've featured in (I think) 8 novels and numerous short stories that are just chock-full of gritty violent pulpy goodness, like original Robert Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs meets Tolkien or Wies/Hickman.

And obviously enough, I like it.



I based his color scheme and design elements on the covers to the novels. There's still some personal interpretation of course, but I tried to be true. Even so, I think perhaps he should be wider and even heavier than he is now, in keeping with the hugely muscled and squat Warhammer style of dwarf. If there's any fans of the character out there, let me know what you think.
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Comments: 70

PetoriusRex [2012-06-27 23:19:21 +0000 UTC]

This is awesome work, IT. Captures the Slayer perfectly. Would not want to be on the receiving end of his charge.

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BrutalBa55 [2011-02-27 05:20:18 +0000 UTC]

Very badass.

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Hobbittzu [2009-05-26 07:44:22 +0000 UTC]

This is awesome. I like how his teeth came out.

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Inkthinker In reply to Hobbittzu [2009-05-26 08:11:08 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! It's nice when someone notices the details.

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KonMonag [2008-09-17 05:22:51 +0000 UTC]

*wipes a tear from his eye*
It's beautiful.....

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LEADZ [2008-05-14 00:37:42 +0000 UTC]

you going to finish painting felix as well? Im a huge fan of the pair

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Inkthinker In reply to LEADZ [2008-05-14 06:12:44 +0000 UTC]

To be honest, when I leave something half-finished for this long, I tend to prefer to start fresh. For instance, what bothers me now about this illustration is the flat perspective... the characters are just running sideways at something out-of-frame. I can see where I could make the composition more exciting by having them engage something just over the viewer's shoulder, for instance.

I would venture to say that I'll very likely do another Felix & Gotrek image at some point... probably when the next book comes out. Supposedly it's going to be Elfslayer, Amazon has it at Sep. 30, and once again by Nathan Long (fine by me, I like Long's writing). But we'll just have to see what's going on when that comes around.

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EmperorBassexe In reply to Inkthinker [2008-10-01 23:32:07 +0000 UTC]

Hmmm... mabie having them run at Thanquol would help the pic?

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LEADZ In reply to Inkthinker [2008-05-14 20:01:19 +0000 UTC]

Yeah man, I am definatly waiting for that book. I started working no a Gotrek and Felix pic a while back... but like most things, finding the time to finish it was a big factor with comissions here and there (As in jobs not devart).

Im glad to find a kindred G and F spirit. Your armour designs are out of this world by the way...great detail.

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Shinigami-Ashe [2008-03-21 19:24:31 +0000 UTC]

Thats so cool!!!

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kyleboy [2008-03-06 05:30:58 +0000 UTC]

make a Felix one, cant have Gotrek without Felix..

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Inkthinker In reply to kyleboy [2008-03-06 10:51:48 +0000 UTC]

He's in the sketches, but the color version got all deflicted, and I haven't attacked it lately 'cause I got work to do. But you can see the rough sketch for Felix in the Scraps version.

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OuroborosI [2008-02-22 05:53:19 +0000 UTC]

sweet there never enough dwarfs

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Oddwirdz [2008-01-08 10:19:45 +0000 UTC]

:thumb74025945:

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Inkthinker In reply to Oddwirdz [2008-01-09 07:36:26 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, for some odd reason the thumbnail hotlinking hasn't been working for me lately, so that just reads as a line of code. If you drop the whole URL in, though, it'll make a link.

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Oddwirdz [2008-01-07 09:55:01 +0000 UTC]

im addin this to my fav!

if you don't mind, would u give me some feed back on my drawin when u have the time.. some tips would be nice aswell

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Fat-Chihuahua [2007-12-19 02:40:09 +0000 UTC]

Brilliant!! i hope we can get breeches like those in WAR

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Inkthinker In reply to Fat-Chihuahua [2007-12-19 10:19:14 +0000 UTC]

I've been collecting the concept art for WAR as it comes onto IGN, and there's been a huge amount of it... so far as I can tell, they're being excellent about adhering to the fashion designs as they've appeared in the RPG books and the Black Library novels. So yeah, I think stripey breeches are going to be a very likely option for your own Trollslayer.

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Fat-Chihuahua In reply to Inkthinker [2007-12-19 20:16:58 +0000 UTC]

Ach no man, ill be rolling engineer ^^

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Inkthinker In reply to Fat-Chihuahua [2007-12-20 01:50:49 +0000 UTC]

Engineers cannae wear stripey breeches?

I haven't actually read anything on Dwarves within WAR, so I don't know how they plan to handle Trollslayers, but I'm betting it's something you can only do after you hit a certain level. Otherwise the place will be overrun with tattooes and mohawks.

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Fat-Chihuahua In reply to Inkthinker [2007-12-20 16:06:00 +0000 UTC]

Dno, have to wait and see i guess. hope they can

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vexorii [2007-11-27 22:35:50 +0000 UTC]

awesome ! Warhammer rules !!!

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drawhack [2007-11-08 23:44:44 +0000 UTC]

This Gotrek drawing is cool. He looks mad enough.

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primalink [2007-11-01 04:18:00 +0000 UTC]

That was not a warthog your father was making, it was a totemic swine! Anyway, the dwarf looks smashing...and I agree, another lightsource, green would be good...and those pants are waaaay too clean! He needs to get down and dirty. make 'em like he was wearing two pairs of smelly socks for at least two weeks

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Inkthinker In reply to primalink [2007-11-01 04:35:40 +0000 UTC]

Totem shmotem.

He still has it, though (the pig).

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Omega9000 [2007-10-18 00:55:26 +0000 UTC]

Kick-a$$ art of Gotrek!
Nice job!

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WaroDaBeast [2007-10-13 14:44:14 +0000 UTC]

He's got pretty wild hair!

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Count-Archek-Brauer [2007-09-26 18:14:49 +0000 UTC]

Just as I remember him from the books.. nice job ^^

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Robot-Samurai-Katana [2007-09-21 06:18:57 +0000 UTC]

nice

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QuestingRaven [2007-09-11 14:31:20 +0000 UTC]

It's the little details that make this work so well, from the runes on the blade, to the missing teeth. Great Job

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Inkthinker In reply to QuestingRaven [2007-09-14 11:24:49 +0000 UTC]

I had to include the missing teeth, 'cause King mentions 'em all the time. I think it's the serial nature of his writing, where every chapter feels a bit like they were originally published in a magazine or something, 'cause it seems like he's constantly dropping little reminder lines about so-and-so's appearance or character. He's a very descriptive writer in that respect. Even the gaps between books often don't cover much time, as if you were just picking up the next chapter after the previous one. Nathan Long's books now being the exception, as they apparently take place twenty years(!) after the events in Giantslayer, King's final in the series so far.

Long's G&F novels seem good so far too, though, even if I have to adjust to the idea of Felix as being in his 40's. I'm certainly looking forward to Manslayer, which ought to hit in October.

What with Pratchett also dropping a new book around the same time, I'm going to be a happy little reader next month.

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blindsyte [2007-09-10 07:02:09 +0000 UTC]

he better watch out for this guy: [link]

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Inkthinker In reply to blindsyte [2007-09-19 09:27:02 +0000 UTC]

Ha! Nice!!

The title of the seventh(?) book is Giantslayer.

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blindsyte In reply to Inkthinker [2007-09-20 23:36:12 +0000 UTC]

thanks

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bearcavestudios [2007-09-07 22:47:03 +0000 UTC]

great work

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AngelCrusher [2007-09-07 22:38:31 +0000 UTC]

cool man. I was gonna say. this takes me back to my warhammer days, great pose and colours. Reminds me of one of the actual models abit. Then read it was for one of the books....cool stuff

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SlainDragon [2007-09-07 08:45:22 +0000 UTC]

Ahh Gotrek, I always felt so bad for Felix due to all the crap he had to go through when traveling with that crazy dwarf.

Personally I would just make his shoulders broader and lengthen the beard, that would probobly give him a shorter look, a little more dwarvish . . . but hey, what do I know? I love the colors and the axe is gorgeous, I think it looks better than the gold one they have in some of the pictures. Gah he is so a slayer. Kudo's!

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TonyDennison [2007-09-06 18:48:12 +0000 UTC]

Woah, dude.... way to pimp scraps!

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Inkthinker In reply to TonyDennison [2007-09-19 09:37:37 +0000 UTC]

Irritates the shit out of me that I gotta mark that every time I add a new artist to my watchlist. I worry that some people don't.

But I'm very likely to go on a major purging rampage of my main Gallery, shift a bunch of stuff to Scraps or move it out entirely, so if people don't poke around in the Scraps... they'll miss out.

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soliton [2007-09-06 17:37:10 +0000 UTC]

he's coming after you cuz you put him in those pants haha

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Inkthinker In reply to soliton [2007-09-19 09:38:25 +0000 UTC]

Wasn't me!! I swear!

They're totally from the covers and the miniature. It was either black and white, or red and white, and the latter just made him look too much like a mad circus clown.

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soliton In reply to Inkthinker [2007-09-19 18:31:33 +0000 UTC]

lol well alright, i suppose i can let you off...THIS TIME

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EgilSterkr [2007-09-06 11:05:44 +0000 UTC]

awesome! great pose and cool character!

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OmenRider [2007-09-06 10:01:02 +0000 UTC]

love it!

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weisen1 [2007-09-06 00:37:28 +0000 UTC]

You're definitely learning at a crazy fast pace
The rim light is really cool, it's so subtle but draws my eyes to the hands then ax
I know what you mean about those eureka moments, they're definitely one of the more enjoyable moments of art

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Blindsight67 [2007-09-06 00:36:27 +0000 UTC]

Simply grand fun.

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OblivionDreamer [2007-09-05 23:29:36 +0000 UTC]

ah Gotrek... I like your version of the dwarf slayer more than the model where it came from...

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brujaslight [2007-09-05 22:35:43 +0000 UTC]

Gjhorrrrr!!!!! love it. Not bad for 3 hours

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ArtofBlake [2007-09-05 22:35:37 +0000 UTC]

Niiice work, chief. Good colors. But yeah, I agree with Mongo. Needs another light source

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GH-MoNGo [2007-09-05 22:18:43 +0000 UTC]

It's looking really good so far; I think it could really use a secondary light source.

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